How to Be a Vampire: School of Hard Knocks
by SaintAugustana
Summary: Embry's at it again, but this time she has a good reason for getting into trouble. Wonder if Dimitri will see her side of the story. Warnings for cp/spanking/corporal punishment of a minor.
1. Saved by the Bell

**How to Be a Vampire: School of Hard Knocks**

**A/N: Here is a picture of Damien: **h t t p : / / w w w . i m d b . c o m / m e d i a / r m 5 5 0 2 7 9 4 2 4 / t t 0 4 1 7 3 8 5**  
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** [That's him on the left, played by Conor Donovan. By the way, if you haven't seen ****Twelve and Holding****, I recommend it.]**

**Chapter 1 – Saved by the Bell**

Ugh. School. It had been hard enough persuading me to _go_ in the first place, as I had gotten used to spending the whole of my days at the Manor in any fashion I chose to spend them. It wasn't all fun and games, granted, I had my share of weight to pull – I pumped water and fed the horses, helped Dimitri with restoring the foundations of the old house, but even these ranch jobs I enjoyed. I liked home. I liked my toy soldiers and my creek. I liked being around Damien, who didn't go to the same school as me. Why did summer have to end?

And no, public school wasn't good enough for Dimitri. I think if he'd had his way he would have shipped me off to some English boarding school, but a tough round of negotiations [here meaning a lot of yelling on his part, grouching on mine, and one sore backside for me afterwards] he settled on the most prestigious St. Jude's Academy.

To be honest, it wasn't that bad. The other kids liked me well enough. The teachers didn't, due to my quick establishment of a jokester reputation. It was liberating at first, telling all those jokes I couldn't at home because Dimitri was about the toughest crowd around, and it made me some fast friends, and we often rendezvoused on the playground during recess.

This particular day, I was late. Our teacher had held me after Latin to discuss with me the 'ill merits of my behavior thus far' and to issue a warning that no further interruptions of her lessons on my part would be tolerated. I played serious enough to fool her, but I was flying high on my new status. I had never had so many friends. I had spent my whole life lower than gum on someone's shoe and now suddenly my dry wit and sarcasm was being appreciated.

So quick as she'd cut me loose I broke for the playground.

"Yo, Bree," Rudy called from across the yard. I grinned and ran over, pumping my fist against his and doing the same with Louie and Violet. Louie and Violet were twins, always trying to one-up each other at everything. Everybody that knew them knew at least two things: that their father was the headmaster and they were the most competitive boy and girl in school. Nobody challenged them, not to basketball or baseball or soccer or even a friendly race from one side of the blacktop to the other.

As for Rudy, he was grade A trouble, but charming and classy to boot. All the teachers loved him, especially the female ones. Not to say that St. Jude's was full of delinquents, but something about the way he always looked so polished – shoes shined, shirt pressed, suit jacket buttoned perfectly – and polite to boot. Me, I kind of dreaded the uniform at first, but at least I got to opt out of the skirt and thigh-high socks most of the girls wore. My hair was already cropped short and I had no intention of breaking my no-dress record by wearing one every day. Dimitri and I had argued this at first, but as a condition of my going to private school and promising to behave he let me wear the gray slacks, white button-down, and tie. The tie I didn't much care for. I loosened it as soon as I'd greeted everyone.

"So what'd the teach want with you?" Rudy questioned after we'd taken our usual seats on the steps of the metal playplace.

"Nothin,'" I shrugged, munching on an apple leftover from lunch. "Jabber, jabber."

He chuckled. Louie and Violet were jostling on the step just above, pushing and shoving playfully.

"So I've got this idea," Rudy began, leaning in a bit closer. Suddenly, he wasn't looking at me, but over my shoulder, with a peculiar expression on his face.

"What?"

"Does, uh," he grinned and pointed, "does that guy know you?"

I turned around and held up at a hand against the sun. There, a few yards away at the chain link fence was Damien, flashing that big trademark smile.

"Uh, yeah, hold on one second." I got to my feet and jogged over, wrapping my fingers around the fence.

"Damien," I grinned.

"Hey," he returned contently, squinting against the midday light.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not rudely, of course. I was happily surprised to see him. "Have you eaten lunch?"

"Breakfast," he replied. "Mom's at the supermarket."

I took another bite of my apple before tossing it the short distance over the fence. He caught it deftly and took a hearty bite. "Who are they?" he asked around a mouthful. I turned around. Rudy, Violet, and Louie were watching with interest.

"Just some friends. Want to hop over and play for a bit? Nobody's looking."

"I should get back," he replied. "Thanks for the apple."

"Sure. Hey!" I called after. "Will you be with Dimitri when he picks me up?"

"If you want me to," he shrugged.

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Okay," he promised before he turned and left. I watched him go, tossing the apple core into the street as he rounded the corner. Someone stepped up behind me.

"Who was that kid?" Rudy asked. I turned around.

"He's my neighbor, his name's Damien."

"You friends with him?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering. Come on, the bell's ringing."


	2. Tension

**Chapter 2 - Tension**

I relished the weekends. I didn't typically have homework. I could sleep in and still be up before Dimitri. On Saturday mornings I packed a backpack full of snacks and toys and rode my bike to the neighboring manor house where Damien's mother worked. I didn't know the owner, personally. I had seen him about the house and he didn't seem to mind my presence. I would stay and keep Damien company as he did his share of the work cleaning. Today we washed windows until his mother smiled and sent us off to enjoy the lunch I'd made.

We walked and ate, through the wheat field that led to the lake. It would have been easy for a stranger to get lost in there, but we had been there and back so many times there was a stream of flattened grass beneath our feet.

"So how's school?" He asked, taking a bite of his tomato-and-mayo sandwich.

"It's alright," I returned, crouching to gather a flat stone. "Is your mom still home-schooling you?"

"Yeah, but we don't do much. The Master's been giving her a lot of work lately."

The 'Master' was Mr. Langley, the master of the house. I thought a moment. "Why can't you come to school with me?"

"Too much money," he returned, a bit resentfully. I gave him a sympathetic look and shut my mouth. We stayed in silence that way until we reached the lake bed, when we divided up the pebbles in my pocket and took turns skipping them across the cool surface.

"So, Embry, are you in?"

"Huh, what?" Startled, I looked up. Violet was glaring, Louie was busy with a comic book, and Rudy sighed deeply.

"What's the matter with you today?" He demanded. "Did you hear anything I said? This is going to be the best prank ever – are you in?"

To be honest, I hadn't heard a word, but for some inexplicable reason I thought my status as a likable kid was greatly dependent on placating these guys, so I nodded affirmatively.

"Good. Get your head in the game, okay?" Rudy replied, a bit firmly. I nodded dumbly, my mind still wandering. He scrutinized me. "What's the matter with you, anyway?"

"You remember my friend Damien?"

"The kid at the fence? What about him?"

I didn't like his tone. But I continued. "He wants to come to school here, but he hasn't got the money. I was thinking about what I can do to help him out." Suddenly, a spark. "Louie, Violet, do you think you can talk to your dad and see if-"

"Embry," Rudy cut me off. I fell silent.

"What?"

"No offense, but David-"

"Damien," I corrected defensively.

"Whatever," he shrugged. "He doesn't belong here."

"Why not?" I questioned.

"This is a private school," he explained condescendingly. "If we took in everybody off the street it wouldn't be exclusive, would it? Besides, he wouldn't know what to do around all this. It's better if he doesn't.

I didn't know how to answer. "You don't know him."

"He looks like a bum," Violet murmured.

"Exactly," Rudy acknowledged, leaning back and adjusting his lapels.

I had just about reached my boiling point. Despite the twisted politics of the discussion it didn't take a genius to see they were insulting my friend. I got swiftly to my feet, reaching around Louie to give Violet a hearty shove, and then I reached for Rudy, closing my hands around his newly straightened collar.

"Woah, dude, what's your problem?"

"I don't care what you think about Damien, he's my friend. Next time you say something about him you better not say it in front of me," I growled. The recess bell rang, and before he could open his smart mouth to retort I released him, grabbed my backpack and leapt off the steps, knocking his shoulder as I headed back to class.


	3. Trouble

**Chapter 3 - Trouble**

I didn't talk to any of them for the rest of the week, and Damien didn't come to visit the playground. I supposed it was like he said – his mom was working a lot more. If I was him I would have stayed to help her, too. Then Friday rolled around, and by the strange glances Louie, Violet, and Rudy kept tossing my direction all morning before recess I remembered that today was the day we were supposed to carry out Rudy's master plan for the big prank, the big prank I had no idea about because I hadn't been listening. Still wanting to avoid them at all costs, I made a show of mouthing off to the Latin teacher once more and as expected, she kept me after the recess bell had rung.

Unfortunately, I might have played the troublesome student part too well, because against my pleas for leniency she wrote a short note to my father and sealed it in a white envelope, demanding I return it signed the next day. Grumbling, I shoved it into my bag and made my way out onto the playground.

My comrades weren't on the usual steps beneath the jungle gym. I glanced around, thinking myself quite lucky to be rid of them for the period when I saw them grouped up against the fence. Cursing, I hiked my backpack up and jogged over. On the other side of the chain-link was Damien. Nothing seemed wrong.

"What's going on?" I demanded as gently as I could, pulling the twins aside and pinning Rudy with a stare.

"Just making friends," he grinned innocently. "Sorry it took me so long to introduce myself, Damien."

I wanted to punch him, because not four days ago he was insulting Damien to my face. I glared, but of course I couldn't bring that up. I didn't want to hurt Damien, and I think Rudy knew that. I backed down.

"Any friend of yours is a friend of ours, right guys?" He nodded toward the twins, who chimed in affirmatively. Rudy grinned even wider. "Bygones?" He held out his hand.

I hesitated, but took it in mine and we shook. When he pulled away I had some traces of paint on my fingers, but I thought nothing of it.

"Louie, Violet, go keep watch."

"Watch for what?" I inquired, but they had already disappeared up the ladder to the jungle gym.

"For teachers. Damien, you can climb the fence, right?"

"Woah, wait, I don't think that's a good idea," I retorted. "What about your stupid prank?"

"Later. Come on, Damien."

I glanced at my thus-silent friend. He hesitated. "Alright."

"What about your mom?" I shot, a bit harsher than I had intended.

"I'm by myself today."

"Excellent," Rudy clapped his hands together.

Damien joined us at the jungle gym, seemingly content, but I saw the way he avoided the large metal structure. In a way he did look very out of place, the boy who knew the creeks and the forests and the land like a wild animal knows them, unsure what to do with himself among man-made structures like our massive playplace. But he joined Rudy on the steps and I glanced around anxiously. Seeing no teachers, I took a seat as well.

We talked for a while, mostly Rudy. It had begun to irritate me that I couldn't tell his intentions. Was he truly interested or was there some nefarious plot at work? Okay, that might have been an exaggeration, but Rudy never played clean. Growing more anxious by the minute, I kept my eyes on my watch and prayed for the bell to sound.

"Great!" Rudy exclaimed.

Startled, I quickly replied, "what?"

"I was just telling Damien about the prank and he says he wants in!"

I was speechless. Firstly, because Damien was the antithesis of the mischievous type. "Come on, Rudy, it's too late, the bell's going to ring any minute."

"We've got time, come on! We just have to go set it up, it'll be real quick," he assured the two of us. I shook my head but got out as much retort as a fish gasping for air.

"I can help," Damien said very softly, looking up at me with those big green eyes.

To this day, I regret deeply that I conceded.

As we snuck in through the gymnasium, I looked for Louie and Violet. They were nowhere to be seen.


	4. Revenge

**Chapter 4 - Revenge**

We made our way back to our classroom as quickly as we could, dodging open doors in the hallway and once ducking into a bathroom to avoid a janitor. When our homeroom became visible at the end of the hall I hesitated. Rudy stopped, pivoting.

"What's wrong?"

I held my lips together. Damien watched me like a hawk watches a trembling mouse. "Nothing."

"Great. Just through there, Damien," Rudy pointed. Damien nodded and headed for the door, pushing it open.

The next thing we heard was a vociferous crash. It echoed down the hallway. Shocked, I broke into a short run, skidding to a stop in front of the door and rushing into the room. Damien had fallen to the floor and was lying in a puddle of what appeared to be red paint. His clothes and one side of his face was sopping wet with the stuff.

Rudy was behind me, laughing. "Wow, Embry! You're right, that was perfect!"

I was in complete and total shock. Damien looked about ready to cry, but remained silent, hurt as a wounded dove. He looked at me sadly, stunned. "What?" I turned to Rudy. "What are you talking about? You liar, you did this!"

I saw instantly what had happened. I looked at my hand, still covered in paint. Red paint. Rudy's were clean. He'd made up with me and shaken my hand, he'd planted the can of paint to make it look like I did it.

"Why?" Damien finally spoke. His eyes were on my hand as well.

"Damien, I didn't..."

We heard shouts down the hallway. No doubt it was Louie and Violet, conveniently returning with a teacher to make my framing official. Well, if I was in this deep, I might as well see it through. Rudy was about to make his exit, I presumed to play his part as a bystander by ushering our teacher into the room himself like the good little gentleman he was. Reacting in kind, I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back into the room, shoving the door closed and turning the lock.

The next few seconds passed in a kind of a blur. First, I unleashed the punch I had been wanting to give Rudy since the beginning of the week, square in the face. He didn't take it quietly, of course, and no sooner had I retracted my fist had he begun to pummel back until we were in a full-blown fight. By the time the teacher had fetched the janitor with the master key to every lock in the school I had him grounded. He kicked me off and I recovered quickly, bullrushing him in the gut and sending him backward into a wall. He brought me down with him. I heard screaming from the audience and felt some useless hands on my back, trying to pull me off, but these were my frail teachers, and didn't do much. I freed myself from the tangle and, ready to be done, aimed one almighty jab at Rudy's stomach. He crumpled to his knees at my feet, groaning. I breathed heavily, swiping a hand beneath my split lip and tasting blood.

At this point, I didn't care what anybody thought. My conscience was shouting at me in the back of my mind and making me dread the next few minutes, but I turned away from Rudy and shoved the teacher's hand off my shoulder, jogging back to Rudy's side. He was getting to his feet, shaking his sneakers, which stuck in the gloopy paint. He looked up.

"Why?" And I could see in his eyes the gravity of that question.

I swallowed, unable to answer. I felt the eyes of everyone in the back of my skull as I stepped into the puddle and bent down to scoop up a handful of the smooth red stuff, admiring it closely before smearing it across my white linen shirt.

"Because I didn't."

The next thing I knew there was a hand on the back of my collar, this one not my teacher and far from frail. Headmaster Fischer gripped a knot of my shirt and hauled me into the hallway.

"Ms. Denatos, I need to hear your side of the story."

"Embry," I muttered, swirling a finger around in the paint stain on my shirt and sinking deeper into the uncomfortable leather wingback opposite the Headmaster's mahogany desk.

"Well, Embry," he rose, pacing deftly around the intimidating piece of furniture to stand next to my chair. I looked up. He seemed very tall all of a sudden. I tried not to further shrink as he continued. "Your father will be on his way, and either you can explain to him or I can, but I'll need something to explain."

"You called him?"

He faltered. I had him cornered. Of course he had called, but even if Dimitri had stepped out of his coffin long enough to answer the phone there was no way he was coming to get me. It was barely past midday, when the sun was highest and brightest in the sky. For what little I knew of his condition I knew he couldn't take direct sunlight.

How could I explain this to the Headmaster? I couldn't. At the very least he'd put me in a detention room the rest of the day, or make me sit in the office until four, when it was dim enough outside for Dimitri to pick me up.

"Where's Damien?"

"If you mean the boy you doused in paint-"

"I didn't _do_ it!" I shouted. "Rudy did!"

"Watch your tone, young lady," the Headmaster commanded. ":Rudyard would do no such thing."

I couldn't believe it. Everybody knew that Headmaster Fischer had a soft spot for Louie and Violet when it came to discipline, but I hadn't considered he might have an equally soft spot for their best friend and stand-up model student Rudy. I knew if I continued on this way I was going to end up in more trouble and in with more blame than I deserved, and I wasn't about to let Rudy win that fight.

"Where's Damien?"

"Miss Kipling has taken him to the Lost and Found to gather some fresh clothes."

That was all the information I needed. The Headmaster continued to hammer me with questions for a while, but I remained stoic. He sent me out to the lobby to wait while he spoke to Rudy. I took a seat and glanced up at the secretary. She was busy at her computer. I don't know if she ever realized my absence.


	5. Escape

**Chapter 5 – Escape**

The Lost and Found was a small portable building just outside the gymnasium. I jogged there, creeping around the sides of the school and ducking through the playground behind a series of trees. I could see Miss Kipling leading Damien up the path but I couldn't hear what they were saying. No doubt she was wondering who he was and why he was there, but was obviously taking pity on him, touching his shoulder gently and helping him up the steps into the room. Oddly, she didn't go in with him. I took my chance, dodging through the trees and creeping up to the back of the portable beneath the single sliding window.

I grabbed a pebble and tossed it the short distance up. "Damien!"

The window slid open and he appeared on the other side, watching me with no expression, like a ghost. I stepped back, but he withdrew and I clambered up, stumbling into the small room, made even smaller by the heaps of cardboard boxes and racks of clothing, mostly jackets and gym clothes and discarded remnants of school uniforms, heaps upon heaps of them.

Damien didn't speak. I could see that he'd tried to clean up, but there was still a thin layer of red paint splotched over his tan skin, faded and peeling from scrubbing; it looked like a bad sunburn.

"Is your mom coming to get you?"

"Not for another hour." He responded distantly, stripping out of his hardening clothes and tossing them into a paper sack. He began to rummage through the boxes for something to wear.

"Damien, will you please listen to me?"

He paused, not wanting to look at me. Thankfully, he did.

"I told you I didn't do it. I didn't."

He sighed. "I know. I shouldn't have come over the fence."

I shook my head. "Rudy played us. I didn't know what he was doing and I should have."

We were silent for a few moments. "So what are you doing here? I saw the principal carry you off."

"I left when he was talking to Rudy. He doesn't believe me that it wasn't my fault."

"So tell Dimitri."

"He won't wake up for another couple of hours. That's why I have to get home, so I can tell him before Fischer calls him."

"You're going to fess? He'll whip you for sure."

I hung my head. "I haven't thought about it. I don't even care if he believes me. I'm so sorry, Damien. I don't want you to be mad at me."

He thought a moment. "I'm not."

I looked up, and he was smiling, that rare little smile that began at one end of his mouth and didn't quite stretch to the other. A smirk, really, but it was always so innocent. I returned it.

"So what's the plan?" He enjoined, returning to his search for clothes. "We can't walk there, it's almost thirty miles."

"I think I can help with that," I grinned, withdrawing two sets of unused uniforms from a box of extras.

We both changed clothes, dressed in the clean uniforms, and snuck out through the back window. I dropped to the grass below and Damien hollered through the open window that he needed some help. On cue, Miss Kipling came through the door on the opposite side and I came up behind, pulling the door shut as soon as she entered and securing the latch.

We blasted across the playground, leaping over swing sets and vaulting over the playplace, headed for the front of the school. As expected, chained near the bike rack were two gleaming motorized scooters, one rocket red, the other bright yellow – Louie's and Violet's, respectively. We tilted the rack and slid the chains off, started up the engines and within minutes we were on the backroads, heading home.

It was a long commute, and despite the liberation of feeling like a freed criminal, I couldn't help but think about the irony of going home. I might as well have been driving myself to my execution. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, but I had racked up so many offenses I couldn't even count them anymore. On that thought, I made a sharp left and we came to stop at a street corner.

"It's the other way," Damien gestured.

"Louie and Violet live down here. We should leave these," I returned quietly.

"Those other two kids? Who cares?"

"I do. Come on, it's only another ten miles. We can get a cab."


	6. Explanations

**Chapter 6 - Explanations**

What I saw when I walked through the front door almost made me regret not full-blown stealing those shiny scooters. If I'd done that I might have been home in time to catch the phone call, no doubt one of many the Headmaster had put in to my 'father,' but obviously the only one that had yet been received. I swallowed, sliding my backpack onto the bench in the mud room and loosening my tie. Damien and I had parted ways at the beginning of the footpath, and he was no doubt halfway home by now. I felt a flutter of jealousy – his mother, never the strict type, would embrace him with hugs and mild scolding of the been-worried-sick sort, a warm bath and dinner. Me, I was in for something like a week of standing up.

I sighed. Dimitri was lowering the phone to the receiver, his back to me. He didn't even turn around.

"Where have you been?" He demanded, so dangerously low.

"It's a... long story," I swallowed.

"I suggest you start before I lose my patience."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay, perhaps I should have started from the _beginning._

"You're not giving me a chance to explain!" I protested as he dragged me down the hallway by the collar, into the parlor.

"Dimitri," I pulled against his grip, but he dragged me over to the coffee table and propped his foot up on the corner, proceeding to do exactly what I feared: overreact. He hauled me over his knee and smacked me soundly a good dozen times. I howled miserably. Finally, he dropped me unceremoniously to my feet and grabbed my ear. My eyes filled with tears.

"What on God's green earth were you _thinking_? Picking a fight with another student!"

"It was his fault!" I shouted.

"Don't you lie to me," he ordered dangerously.

"I'm not," I promised, looking up. "I'm not."

He didn't respond, as though debating the verity of my statement. Finally, he released my ear and I whimpered, rubbing at the aching lobe. "He set me up, he put the can of paint there and made it look like I had done it. And Damien-"

"Damien shouldn't have even been in the school!"

"I didn't want him to!" I protested weakly, crying now more out of regret than pain. "I should have known – Rudy never liked Damien. He brought him over and tricked him into spilling the paint on himself so it would look like I did it!"

"Why would he go through all that trouble?"

"How am I supposed to know, I'm not a mind reader!"

Dimitri didn't miss a beat, grabbing me by the arm, turning me sideways, and planting a firm swat to the seat of my trousers. "You are on very thin ice, young lady."

I knew it, and sniffed sadly.

"I need a good reason to believe you, and I need it _now_," he ordered.

I swiped a hand beneath my nose, my breath hitching in my throat as I looked up, my eyes swimming with tears. "You-" I had to fight to get the words out. "You think I would do that to Damien?" I wasn't sure what hurt more, my stinging rear or the implication that I would so humiliate and betray my friend that way. No, the implication definitely hurt more. "I wouldn't."

That was good enough for him. As Dimitri often did [and tried to hide it] after he'd reduced me to a sufficiently remorseful kid, he softened notably and released my arm, kneeling down and pulling me into his. I cried into his chest for a long time, I don't know how long, mumbling things like 'I should have known' and 'it was all my fault.' Truly, the only thing I didn't regret was punching that Rudy in the face, and just about every other part of him, too.

After a few minutes of this we were sitting quietly on the sofa. Dimitri had me in the crook of his arm while I calmed down, and when I had he asked me, "why did you leave school?"

"I knew you couldn't come and get me." I whispered.

"That's not an answer. You could have waited."

I sat up straighter. "Because I knew that lying bastard-"

"Watch your mouth, young lady," he interrupted.

"Because I knew he would call you, and he likes Rudy, Rudy's everybody's favorite, they'd never believe me over him. I- I thought you might."

Unexpectedly, Dimitri scoffed. This sudden change in humor startled me. "_Please,_" he stated dryly. "You honestly thought I would believe a handful of people I didn't know over you?"

I swallowed, unsure where this was going. "He _is _the Headmaster."

"And you're mine. And I would like to think that when it comes to important things, you wouldn't lie to me."

I glanced up dolefully, grinning. "How do you define 'important'?"

"Scamp," he admonished gingerly, returning the smile. It faded too quickly for my liking, as we both knew I wasn't out of the woods yet. Dimitri didn't like to let things linger. He would deal with me now. "Go on," he ordered somberly. "Put your dirty clothes in the chute."

I nodded sadly, and went.


	7. End

**Chapter 7 - End**

"Just for the record, and to make sure you have this straight, you're in trouble for the fight you started, and for leaving school without permission. I don't think I need to explain the dangers of the latter, or the degree of your bad judgment today."

I nodded, rising from my seat on the bed. "There's... another thing-"

He cocked his head. I licked my lips. "It's a note from my teacher, in my backpack downstairs. I was... already in trouble earlier today, before any of this happened."

"Let me guess," he advanced, pulling one of his hands out of his pockets to scrub at his face. "Does it have anything to do with that famous motormouth?"

"Uhm, y-yeah," I hung my head.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Which do you want first?"

I practically deflated. Yes, I had been hoping against hope he wouldn't wash my mouth out, but of course, that was the apparent price of a clean slate. "Surprise me," I returned morosely.

He didn't answer, just pointed to my bed. I shuffled over, clambering up and burying my face in my folded arms to hide the tears already coming as he took the switch from the dresser and stepped to my side, pressing his free hand into the small of my back. My stomach churned in the familiar anxiety that was gone as soon as it had come: the first lick smacked down and I whimpered. My thin thermals provided little protection against the horrible sting. He didn't draw it out, but by the fifth and sixth lick I was crying openly and shut my teeth around my arm to try and squelch the pitiful noises.

"Enough," he ordered gently. "You know better than that. Put your arms behind your back."

I hesitated, shaking my head. I couldn't, I couldn't, couldn't let him see me blubbering like a baby.

"Embry, I'm as ready for this to be over with as you are," he whispered. "Come on."

Normally, he wasn't so patient. Sadly, I obeyed and he made quick work of the rest of the punishment, bringing the switch down six more times in even succession. I cried and cried but managed to remain otherwise quiet and not shout out. He released my hands and I brought them back where they had been, burying my face. I heard the switch being replaced on the dresser and the mattress depressed with Dimitri's weight. He reached beneath my arms and pulled me up and over his lap, rubbing soothing circles on my back. My cries were reduced to low sobs, then unsteady breathing, and then I began to relax as he carded a hand through my mussed mop of hair and scratched fondly at the soft spots behind my ears and along my spine. I didn't mean to fall asleep, but looking back on it, I think he knew I needed a period of rest.

When I awoke, it was late evening. I crept downstairs as gingerly as I could. My backside still stung something terrible. As I emerged in the hallway I remembered that I still had a mouthwashing coming to me, and my stomach rumbled. Dimitri was in the parlor, reading a faded hardcover. On the table next to his chair there was a bowl of spaghetti, my favorite.

"Can I eat it after?" I spoke. He put his book down and looked at me standing in the doorway.

"After what?"

"The... the rest of my punishment."

"Punishment's done with. And we're out of soap, anyway."

It sunk in slowly, and with a smile I paced into the room, taking a seat in the opposite chair and grabbing eagerly at the bowl, devouring it heartily.

"It's late," he mused. "Eat quickly, I ran a bath for you and it's getting cold."

I nodded around a mouthful. "Wait," I swallowed. "How can I take a bath if there's no soap?"

He didn't look at me, just kept reading, grinning just so it might have appeared he had just read something particularly amusing. "Yeah. Fancy that."


End file.
